mid morning sugar dips
nicchick
Posts: 49
Im relatively new to commuting on my bike (last few months) and I now much prefer to cycle than drive to work. Its not very far (2 miles each way) but does have a few hills.
My problem is that my energy levels are really suffering mid morning (about 10.30/11am). This isnt unusual for me as I have always had sensitive blood sugar levels in the morning but now I am cycling it is much more frequent. It makes me feel hot and sweaty and light headed and if I dont have something high in sugar after 20mins or so my vision gets a bit blotchy and I feel sick. It means everyday I end up reaching for high sugary snacks like cakes biscuits and chocolate to make me feel normal which obviously isnt healthy. Bananas dont help.
Its not like I dont eat either and I have regular snacks all morning. Plus I drink herbal teas/caffiene free tea so it cant be blamed on that!
What I ate this morning was a smoothie about 7.45am before cycling, banana and natural yogurt about 8.30am, large handful nuts, dried apricots and a nut tracker bar between 9.30 and 10.30am but started to feel bad about 11.30 so had some malt loaf which helped a bit. I have a good lunch and always have a decent size evening meal which is healthy - usually something like chicken, veggies and a carb like potato or brown pasta/rice. Rarey have alcohol in the week.
Anyone have any ideas to help? I eat my brekie at work though so cooking stuff isnt possible :-)
thanks, nic.
My problem is that my energy levels are really suffering mid morning (about 10.30/11am). This isnt unusual for me as I have always had sensitive blood sugar levels in the morning but now I am cycling it is much more frequent. It makes me feel hot and sweaty and light headed and if I dont have something high in sugar after 20mins or so my vision gets a bit blotchy and I feel sick. It means everyday I end up reaching for high sugary snacks like cakes biscuits and chocolate to make me feel normal which obviously isnt healthy. Bananas dont help.
Its not like I dont eat either and I have regular snacks all morning. Plus I drink herbal teas/caffiene free tea so it cant be blamed on that!
What I ate this morning was a smoothie about 7.45am before cycling, banana and natural yogurt about 8.30am, large handful nuts, dried apricots and a nut tracker bar between 9.30 and 10.30am but started to feel bad about 11.30 so had some malt loaf which helped a bit. I have a good lunch and always have a decent size evening meal which is healthy - usually something like chicken, veggies and a carb like potato or brown pasta/rice. Rarey have alcohol in the week.
Anyone have any ideas to help? I eat my brekie at work though so cooking stuff isnt possible :-)
thanks, nic.
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Comments
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Get some porridge down you for breakfast....0
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fossyant wrote:Get some porridge down you for breakfast....
+1
Sounds daft, but if I don't have my daily porridge with honey I really suffer on the morning commute.... Tesco value oats, cheap as chips......0 -
Ever considered taking a diabetes test ?0
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well your not diabetic thats for sure ( iam not medical so dont take it as read) if your going for sweet snacks when you run out of energy then your burning more glucose than you take in . try taking in more carbs like fossyant suggessted porridge is great every morning long acting slow release and sets you up for the next days riding not on the day you have it
tony0 -
Ah I know I dont have diabeties or anything like that, just sensitive morning blood sugar (rarely get problems in the afternoons and never in the evenings)
Seeing as the consensus seems to be to go with porridge, has anyone got a quick but tasty recipe I could try out? I think plain porridge would bore me to death! Also is it easier to make it in a saucepan or do it in the microwave? (I have never made porridge...)
I guess I will have to try and get in the habit of eating breakfast earlier at home and not waiting til I get to work.....
nic0 -
Never used a saucepan, I just chuck my oats in a bowl and cover with milk, 2 minutes on full power in the microwave, drizzle with honey, jobs a good un......0
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nicchick wrote:Ah I know I dont have diabeties or anything like that, just sensitive morning blood sugar (rarely get problems in the afternoons and never in the evenings)
Seeing as the consensus seems to be to go with porridge, has anyone got a quick but tasty recipe I could try out? I think plain porridge would bore me to death! Also is it easier to make it in a saucepan or do it in the microwave? (I have never made porridge...)
I guess I will have to try and get in the habit of eating breakfast earlier at home and not waiting til I get to work.....
nic
handful of oats and some water & milk to cover them in the saucepan (I use all milk /fat bastard>)
Heat on a medium - low heat stirring all the time till it looks thick enough. 5 mins or so.
Don't leave it. I had to throw out a saucepan once which seemed to chemically bond with the burnt porridge.
Add bananas / raisins / honey / sugar etc etc to taste
Scoff<a>road</a>0 -
2 handfuls of oats, one chopped apple, some fresh ground flaxseed (omega-3), cinnamon, water to almost fill remainder of 1 L saucepan.
Heat on stove on maximum until it begins to boil, stirring occasionally.
As soon as it gets to a decent boil, turn down to minimum.
At this point, I leave it on the stove on minimum and go hop in the shower. I put it in my big bowl and eat it when I get out.0 -
The apple recipe above sounds nice.
Just be careful if you microwave, it always seems to boil over when I do that and then it's a pig to clean up the inside of the microwave.
It's also nice to have rhubarb compote or something like that with porridge. Or sprinkle it with dried fruit and flaked almonds.0 -
You can also eat oats cold by making a Swiss-style muesli (Bircher muesli as it called).
This is best made the night before and left in the fridge. Put about half a cup of oats in a bowl, with the following:
half a grated apple
a couple of tablespoons of orange juice
a tablespoon of raisins
a tablespoon of some other dried fruit (cranberries, blueberries, chopped apricots)
a tablespoon of ground hazlenuts (or almonds)
a teaspoon of honey
Top up with milk to a porridge-like consistency. Stir well. Cover and put in the fridge overnight. The oats soften and their sweetness develops. All the flavours mix together well. You can also simplify this and just do oats and raisins.
You can easily experiment with a base of porridge oats and different dried fruits, or fresh fruit in season. And you don't even have to leave it overnight. You can throw it together in the morning and leave to soak for half an hour.
Have a go - I swear by this stuff. And yes, I learnt about this in Switzerland when I was a student. Before then I used to think that Swiss-style muesli meant Alpen - but was mystified when I could find anything like it in the shops. Turns out that people made their own at home,"Tyres down on your bicycle, your nose feels like an icicle"0 -
ooh some very nice sounding recipies thanks - the swiss style sounds good for the mornings I have to leave the house early....
Jeff - didnt think about starting it off and then showering whilst its cooking - good idea!
So porridge for me next week.....
nic0 -
It's amazing the difference cycling will make to blood sugar levels. As a diabetic (type 1 - insulin dependent), I am highly aware of this - through how my body feels and through regular monitoring of my actual BG levels.
I find that when I'm not cycling regularly (like recently over the Christmas break) I need to take a fair bit more insulin (insulin reduces blood sugar, converting it to energy). The porridge (or cereal / muesli) idea is a good one - your breakfast is fairly light in carbohydrates.
I'm a Scot and a bit of a traditionalist so I like a wee pinch of salt on my porridge and hate it done in the microwave compared to the hob. Porridge is an amazingly versatile thing though - there's no limit to what you can put in it. We used to mix in hot chocolate powder when we went hillwalking!
You may also want to consider keeping something fast acting like dextrose sweets or a bottle of lucozade at work. If you feel low a few of dextrose tabs or a small glass of lucozade will bring your sugars up to more normal levels more quickly. Contrary to popular belief, chocolate and cakes won't do this anywhere near as quickly! Take something like that then eat something normal afterwards.0 -
the dextrose sweets sound like an idea.... Ive never thought of that to be honest. I am suprised that cycling to work is making it worse though as it is only 2 miles each way.
For some reason I was under the impression that eating proteins would help hence the nuts and yogurt.... :roll: wrong again!
nic0 -
It's carbs you need. Nuts contain carbs but they are very slow release. Yoghurt doesn't contain much though you could mix in muesli, oats, fruit or honey (or all of those!). I'm quite a fan of natural yoghurt with oats and dried fruit for breakfast sometimes!nicchick wrote:the dextrose sweets sound like an idea.... Ive never thought of that to be honest. I am suprised that cycling to work is making it worse though as it is only 2 miles each way.
For some reason I was under the impression that eating proteins would help hence the nuts and yogurt.... :roll: wrong again!
nic
A decent bowl of porridge (unsweetened) would contain maybe 50g of carbohydrates. 2 Weetabix with milk 30g and about the same for a bowl of bran flakes. A handful of raisins would add another 10g, a chopped medium banana maybe 20g. A glass of orange juice 10g.
In comparison, looking at what you ate:
A smoothie about 7.45am - depends on what's in it but I'd guess maybe 10-20g of carbs.
banana and natural yogurt about 8.30am - 20-30g
large handful nuts, dried apricots and a nut tracker bar between 9.30 and 10.30am - 30-40g
about 11.30 so had some malt loaf - 10g per slice but slow release, starchy carbs. By this stage you need quick release carbs - things high in sugar and low in fat (fat slows your body's absorption of carbs which is why chocolate isn't ideal for this).
I'd suggest trying to increase your carbs at breakfast time maybe to 50-60g when you're cycling. Porridge or cereal with fruit in it would do then stil having a snack mid morning like your dried fruit and cereal bar or banana (bananas are good energy food after cycling).
Being diabetic forces you to beciome a bit of an expert on certain areas of nutrition! It has also taught me that what works for one person won't necessarily work for someone else so this can be a bit trial and error!0 -
Cheers for the recipe for Bircher muesli-I had this on holiday in Lugano and always fancied having a go at making it, but assumed you needed special rolled oats instead of standard porage oats. What do you use?twowheeledwriter wrote:You can also eat oats cold by making a Swiss-style muesli (Bircher muesli as it called).
This is best made the night before and left in the fridge. Put about half a cup of oats in a bowl, with the following:
half a grated apple
a couple of tablespoons of orange juice
a tablespoon of raisins
a tablespoon of some other dried fruit (cranberries, blueberries, chopped apricots)
a tablespoon of ground hazlenuts (or almonds)
a teaspoon of honey
Top up with milk to a porridge-like consistency. Stir well. Cover and put in the fridge overnight. The oats soften and their sweetness develops. All the flavours mix together well. You can also simplify this and just do oats and raisins.
You can easily experiment with a base of porridge oats and different dried fruits, or fresh fruit in season. And you don't even have to leave it overnight. You can throw it together in the morning and leave to soak for half an hour.
Have a go - I swear by this stuff. And yes, I learnt about this in Switzerland when I was a student. Before then I used to think that Swiss-style muesli meant Alpen - but was mystified when I could find anything like it in the shops. Turns out that people made their own at home,0 -
Also nooooo to the dextrose sweeties!
No proper scientific reason, except everyone I've met that eats them is either far too thin or really, really fat. :shock:
I like the chocolate porridge idea though. 8)0 -
Hey Nicchick,
As you can tell you're not alone. I was very surprised that my simple 3-4 mile commute (each way) left me feeling so very hungry.
I've switched to Muesli, with a cereal/energy bar mid morning too. But generally my hunger levels rocket when I'm cycling event that short distance each day.
I fuel up for the return journey too with a snack about an hour before I leave - I'm not so hot on the science but I guess it just gets the blood sugar up. My favourite afternoon treat is a few squares of dark chocolate...for some reason it's the equivalent of rocket fuel for my ride home.
MR0
